You Promised
by Buttons Can't Fly
Summary: He promised her that he wouldn't kill himself. But now he's married to Jessebelle. He wasn't the one that had to untie the rope, he wasn't the one carrying him to get help. He wasn't the one that almost lost his best friend. She was.


_You Promised_

The fire flickered, casting a warm glow on the campsite, contrasting the icy light that the almost full moon cast upon the rest of the forest. James was lost in thought; he knew that Jessebelle was after him still, and that soon he would have to leave Jessie and Meowth as much as the thought sickened him. He needed Jessie and Meowth, and especially when his fiancé was around.

'James?' James saw Jessie's hand wave in front of his face to get his attention.

'Hmm?' James looked round at her.

'What are these scars on your arm?'

James was quick to cover his arm, a little _too _quick. 'Oh, those? They're nothing, just from when we blast off I suppose.' He said with a guilty laugh, he knew that was untrue.

And so did Jessie. 'That's not true, James, and you know it. There's more on your neck you know. You can tell me.' Jessie said in an unusually soft tone.

James didn't say anything for a minute, he stared into the fire, determined not to look at his partner who was intently looking at the scars on his neck, still waiting for answers.

'They're... I put them there.' He said simply, trying to avoid telling Jessie why they were actually there.

That wasn't untrue, it just wasn't very explanatory.

'You put them there?'

If James had expected Jessie to leave it, he would have been wrong.

'Yes. I did.'

Jessie looked at him expectantly, obviously not satisfied with this answer.

'They're from... I... I cut them there.'

'You... Used to cut?' Jessie said softly, is sounded unnatural coming from the usually harsh girl.

'Yeah.'

'What about the ones on your neck?'

'I was suicidal.' James said simply.

'You tried to commit suicide?' Jessie's voice was all but a whisper.

'Twice. Would have three, made plans for it.'

'But you didn't?'

'No.'

'Good, why though?'

'...Because I met you.'

'Me?'

'Yeah. You were my first friend, my first proper friend and I was happy.'

'James...' Jessie said almost cautiously, taking his other arm in her hands. 'These are recent cuts.'

James didn't say anything.

'I thought you said you were happy?'

'I was.'

'Not still?' She traced her fingers over the cuts.

'I could be happier.'

'So you cut? James that's not an excuse! You need to stop!'

'Don't tell me what to do.' James snatched his arm out of Jessie's hands.

'James, please, why are you doing this to yourself? You... You aren't still... Suicidal, are you?'

James hesitated, before saying quietly, 'sometimes I'm close.'

'But you aren't, right?'

'Right.'

'Promise me something. Promise me you will never try to, or actually kill yourself, okay?'

'Why should I promise that?'

'Now you're just being stubborn. Please James.'

'No.'

'Listen... You're James.'

'I'm aware.'

'I'm Jessie.'

'I never knew.' He looked at her sarcastically.

'And you can't have a James without a Jessie, and you can't have a Jessie without a James. We're a team.'

'Fine. I promise.' James turned his back on Jessie. And he'd thought that she might have gone, before she rolled down his collar and softly pressed her lips to the fading scars that lay imprinted on his skin.

He tried to roll his collar back up, but she wasn't having it.

She next took his arm with the fresh cuts on it and kissed them too. 'Why do you do this to yourself, James?'

'You really want to know?'

'I do.'

'I'm addicted, Jess. Any little thing that goes wrong, any bit of stress and I'll cut. I'm so used to it, I can't help myself.'

She kissed each and every scar that she could see.

'Is it because of me? Have I done this to you?' She asked suddenly, not wanting to hear the answer.

'Some.'

'All?'

'Most.'

_All._

'Oh James, I never realised, I didn't know it affected you like this...'

'We all have our ways of dealing with things, you get angry, yell at me and sulk, and I cut.'

'I won't yell at you anymore.' Jessie said firmly, hoping she'd be able to hold her temper in.

James smiled weakly. 'That won't stop it all, I'm afraid.'

'Why not?'

'Because, try being in love with someone who will never love you back. I'm not good enough for her, she'd never even look at me in that way.'

'How do you know? I think anyone would be silly not to love you, James.' She quickly slapped her hand over her mouth, realising what she'd just said, and was thankful that James was facing the other way so he couldn't see her blush. She hadn't meant it in _that _way.

'Thanks Jess. But I know she doesn't, and she never will.' He thankfully hadn't processed what Jessie had said properly.

'You know... Jessie...'

'Yeah?'

'They were right whoever said beautiful things don't last, and I guess I meant what I said when I said they must have been thinking of us.'

'What do you mean?'

'Someday, I'll have to go back home and marry Jessebelle. I'll give the money to you and Meowth, I won't need it. It's my duty to marry her, it's only a matter of time before she finds me.'

'Finds you?'

'She's hunting me down. And she won't rest until she gets me.'

'We can go somewhere else, you don't have to marry her James. I don't care about the money, you can stay with me and Meowth forever if you want to. We can go somewhere she'll never find you.'

'As much as I would give anything for that, Jess... What happens when you fall in love and get married? What about when you want to start your own life?'

'I have a life James. And I'm very happy with it, even if we seem to be incapable of capturing that Pikachu. I don't think I'll ever get married to be honest...'

'Why ever not?'

'I'd much rather be out here having adventures with you out here forever than settle down in one place and be boring... But that isn't to say we can't get that summer house you were talking about...'

'...Did you just say you'd rather be with me forever than get married and be in love?'

Unfortunately this time, James did see her blush as she realised the implications of what she had said.

'Erm... I might have accidentally said something like that...'

James smiled, and took Jessie in his arms, she hugged him back and the fire burnt smaller, darkening the area.

'Maybe we should go to bed...'

'Yeah, we probably should...'

'Goodnight James.'

'Night Jess.'

* * *

James wasn't quite sure how he'd ended up in this mess. He'd just woken up, and been here.

Home.

No this wasn't his home. This was his house. Home was wherever he, Jessie, and Meowth were staying.

But his house was the last place that James wanted to be right now. He wanted to be at the campsite with Jessie and Meowth. He grimaced as he heard the voice.

_Her _voice.

'Oh James, dahling, you've finally returned to me!'

'I didn't choose to come back!' James spat at her.

'Oh James, you have no idea how happy I am to see you!' She ignored his comment.

'Jessebelle! Untie me! Please!'

'No Jamsie, I'm afraid I can't do that... You see, we can't have anything happening before our wedding tomorrow.'

'Tomorrow? We're marrying tomorrow?' Tomorrow was only in a few hours.

'Why yes dahling, and you see we can't have you escaping again. Or like the time before that, we can't have you..' She drew her finger across her neck, and James scrunched his eyes closed. 'James, look at a lady when she's talking to you. I said we can't have you escaping or trying to commit suicide again, can we? Am I really that bad?'

'Yes!'

'But what about those friends of yours? Won't they miss you?'

'I made a promise to Jessie that I wouldn't kill myself and I'm not about to go back on that.'

'As much as I would like to trust you on that, I'm afraid I can't. So you see, you have to remain tied up here until the ceremony.'

'Can't I shower? I've been camping in a forest for weeks.'

'I can help you with that.'

'It's not proper for a lady to see a man naked before she is married to him you know dear Jessebelle.'

She didn't seem to catch the sarcasm in his voice, or if she did, she ignored it. 'What no one knows won't hurt them, Jamsie, and we both know that everyone would believe me over your foul accusation of me seeing you naked before we are wed you know.'

James said nothing. There was no way out of this one.

But hadn't he been saying, merely yesterday that soon he would have to marry this crazy woman? But he supposed his thoughts of her weren't as bad as the real thing. He'd always tried to dull her down in his head, to make the thought of marrying her seem less horrifying.

'Now Jamsie.'

'My name is James.'

'Yes well, everyone knows that once you're familiar with someone you can give them a nickname. Like one day you can call me Jessie.'

'Never.' He gritted his teeth. 'There's only one Jessie to me, and it is most certainly _not you_.'

'Oh, that's your pretty little girlfriend isn't it?'

'She's not my girlfriend.'

'Just as well then. Because by tomorrow I will be your wife, dahling.'

* * *

'Jessie.' Meowth shook Jessie awake.

'What do you want Meowth?' She snarled at the cat.

'James is gone.'

'What do you mean, James is gone?'

'Exactly that! I'd have thought that it was pretty self explanatory, but Jimmie is gone. And so is all his stuff.'

'You mean, he's left us?'

'Apparently so. What are we gonna do Jessie?'

'We're going to find him. If he'll be anywhere, there's one place that he'll be.'

'Where?'

'Pass me my phone and we'll find out.'

After a few minutes Meowth came back to Jessie's sleeping bag. 'It's gone.'

'Then he is there. That confirms it. But we have to phone up to make sure... Is there a city around here?'

'I think so...'

'Good. You stay here with the things, I'm trusting you Meowth. I need to do this alone.'

'Wait! Jessie!'

But she was already gone.

In the next city she found a phone box and quickly dialled the number she had written down a few months ago in case any of them needed it.

'Hello?'

'Hi, is James home?'

'Master James is indeed home, might I ask who you are, Miss?'

'I'm his best friend, Silina. Is he married yet?' Jessie had been going to use her alias 'Jesselina' but, she had decided to eradicate the 'Jessie' part of her name all together to make her less recognisable, which left her with 'Silina'

'The wedding is to be held in a few hours.'

'Oh good, may I please come to the wedding? It's just I've known him for so long and we've been through so much, It'd mean a lot to me to see him finally settled down, sir.'

Jessie was thankful she hadn't gagged at the thought of James settling down with that insane woman.

'I'm sure I'll be able to add an extra seat in for you.'

'Thank you so much. I'll be here soon. Goodbye.'

'Goodbye, Miss.'

Jessie hung up the phone and ran into the nearest clothes shop. She didn't have much money, but she managed to buy a cheap dress that would hopefully be okay for the wedding and a hairbrush. She was changed into the dress, and on her way to where she knew James would be married soon so she tried as best as she could to brush all the hair products out of her hair. She took a short detour through a forest, where she found a waterfall.

She finally managed to get her hair to hang freely, by the time she was at the gates. No one was allowed to recognise her, especially not Jessebelle or James.

'Hello Miss, I presume you are here for the wedding?' She was greeted by the same man from the phone.

'Yes thank you.'

'Follow me then.'

It didn't seem to be like a usual wedding, not like Jessie had been to any of those before. But everyone was soon seated and James stood in front of the vicar.

Finally, the vicar had gotten to the part she had been waiting for.

'Speak now forever hold your peace.' She heard him say.

Jessie's heart beat faster and faster as she stood up. Everyone turned to look at her and James gasped, obviously now recognising her though he hadn't at first.

She didn't let it show though. 'Prepare for trouble.' She said confidently, and smirked slightly as James grinned.

'And make it double.'

She stepped into the isle and began to walk up to James. 'To protect the world from devastation.'

'To unite all peoples within our nation.'

Everyone was too shocked to speak, even Jessebelle was stunned for the time being. She had been sure that this would be perfect.

'To denounce the evils of truth, and love.' She glared at Jessebelle when she said this part.

'To extend our reach to the stars above.'

'Jessie.'

'James.'

'And you can't have a Jessie without a James, and you can't have a James without a Jessie.'

'I am a Jessie! I'm a Jessie_belle_!'

'You're no Jessie, Jessebelle. Jess you have to go home.' He said, turning to Jessie.

'Team Rocket blast off at the speed of light.'

'Surrender now, or prepare to fight.' He still said the ending with her anyway.

'You have to go home, and make a life of your own without me.'

'We're in this together, and don't forget, James, we're a team.'

She offered him her hand.

He took it.

* * *

'Jessie, you saved me.'

'What, you think I was going to let you marry her?'

James grinned. 'Not a chance. Jessie...' James tilted his head to the side and ran a hand through Jessie's hair, something he'd never been able to do before.

'Hmm?'

'Your hair.'

'What, you don't remember it like this?'

'Hardly. It's pretty.'

'Thanks, maybe I'll wear it like this sometimes.' She blushed slightly, and the shadows from the trees did nothing to hide it.

'We need to get out of here. Follow me.' He grabbed Jessie's hand

James ran through some trees, Jessie hot footing it behind him, still holding onto his hand so they wouldn't get separated.

'Here we are. We can only go one at a time this way though, you go first.'

'And risk Jessebelle getting hold of you again?'

'As I seem to recall you once telling me Jess, that a real gentleman always carries the bag, and he also lets a lady go first.'

'James, now is not the time for becoming a gentleman. Just go!'

'Well now, isn't this just touching?'

They both whipped around to see Jessebelle holding her Vileplume.

'Now, if you don't mind, I'll be taking James back with me.'

'Not likely.' Jessie snarled.

'I think he can handle this one himself, as you said he's becoming a gentleman, and a gentleman can always protect himself, and he doesn't need a girl to do it for him.'

'I'll protect him if I want to, you can't tell me what to do.'

'Vileplume, stun spore them, just like before!'

'Vileplume!'

Everything went black.

* * *

When Jessie was able to move again, the sky had darkened incredibly, she wouldn't be able to get back inside in daylight so she would have to wait a little longer to save James. She only hoped that they hadn't continued the wedding.

_Yeah right. You wish._

Well she'd have to save him anyway. Jessie was still wide awake when darkness fell and the shadows that the trees cast weren't much darker than the ground itself and made her way up to the mansion.

It took her a while to get back up to the mansion, but once she made it she looked for anywhere where there was a light on.

Although Team Rocket's plans didn't always go too well, Jessie was particularly good at sneaking around when she needed to most of the time. She just hoped that this was one of those times.

What Jessie hadn't realised was that since it was summer, it didn't get dark until much later so by the time it had gotten dark, Jessie had gotten up to the house, into the house and quietly searched a few rooms; it was almost midnight and thankfully everyone seemed to have gone to bed already.

Jessie had managed to find James' parents room, some of the servants, and even Jessebelle's room. It surprised Jessie that James wasn't in the same room as Jessebelle, they'd surely be married by now. But then she noticed that the pillow was crumpled as it someone had been lying on it and the covers weren't quite perfect.

So James had snuck out of bed.

By the time she actually found James, it was in what she supposed would have been his old room and it was all she could do to stop herself from screaming.

She ran over to him, and looked for something, anything. She saw something sharp on the table, not caring what it was she sliced the rope and caught James as he fell to the floor.

She held his body close to her, rare tears splashing onto her partners face.

'You fucking promised.' She whispered quietly, stroking his hair and untying the rope.

But in fact, it had only been moments before James had jumped off of that chair, that Jessie had only been down the hall in Jessebelle's room.

And that was when Jessie noticed that James wasn't quite dead.

He was breathing, ever so slowly and shallowly. And his pulse was ever so weak and slow. Holding onto this one little piece of hope for him, Jessie looked out of the window; there were bushes down there.

They looked soft enough. They had survived many blast offs, they could survive this.

They _would _survive this.

With James in her arms, Jessie leapt out of the window, the bushes muffling the sound and breaking her fall.

Getting up, she ran to the gate as quickly as she could, and down the very long drive.

Once she was out, she knew that the nearest town was close enough.

With everything she had in her she kept running, and as much as she wanted to collapse, she didn't for if she did then James would surely die.

There was no hospital in the small town, but there was a Pokemon centre; James' last hope.

Jessie bashed on the door of the closed Pokemon centre.

And a weary Nurse Joy unlocked the door.

'We're closed you know.'

'Please you have to help me! There's no hospital and James it going to die. You're my last hope.'

'We're a centre for Pokemon, Miss.'

'He'll die.'

She sighed. 'I'll take a look at him.'

'Thank you so much.'

Nurse Joy took James into a room, but wouldn't let Jessie in, so she sat in the front, waiting.

It wasn't long before there was another pounding knock on the door.

Nurse Joy opened it once more. 'We're closed.'

'Please, Pikachu's hurt.'

'Bring it in...'

'You! What are you doing here? You aren't trying to steal the Pokemon are you?'

Jessie jumped, she hadn't noticed that it had been the twerps that had come in.

'No of course I'm not! Leave me alone.'

'I don't believe you!'

'James is dying and there's no hospital, I had to bring him here.'

'James is probably fine! He's probably in there stealing the Pokemon now!'

'I wish!'

'Give it up Jessie! You're a bad lier.'

'Really? Well you weren't the one to find out your best friend is suicidal, wake up to find he'd been stolen back by Jessebelle, have to go all the way there to stop the wedding, get away with it and be just about to escape when Jessebelle stole him back. You weren't the one that had to wait until dark to get into the house to find him, only to find him in his bedroom hanging by a fucking rope and you were not the one that had to cut him down think he was dead and then run for miles carrying him with no stops here to try and keep him alive, and now I'm being accused of lying about this so just stay the fuck away from me!'

'Ash, I think she's telling the truth...' Misty said.

'Yeah but-'

'Ash, just leave her alone. She's worried sick, can't you tell?'

'No...'

'You're useless Ash!'

They waited in silence before Nurse Joy came back to them. 'Pikachu will be just fine in a few minutes. And as for James, I think he'll be okay... I'm no expert with humans, but it looks like his air supply was cut off just long enough for him to fall unconscious. I've given him some medicine that might help, and he's having air pumped back into his lungs. He _should _be okay. You made it only just in time.'

Jessie let out a breath she didn't realise she had been holding and was almost in tears. It wasn't like her to get this emotional.

'C-can I see him yet?'

'He's still out, but I suppose so, as long as you don't touch any of the equipment.'

'When will he wake up?'

'As soon as enough air is flowing around his body I presume.'

'Alright. Thank you so much.' Jessie walked into the room that James was in, and rushed to his side.

Thankfully Nurse Joy didn't follow her in, because as soon as she was near him she broke down in sobs.

Misty came in to see Pikachu, but walked straight back out again. She didn't want to interrupt, Jessie was hugging James and crying like she'd never cried before.

She finally managed to pull herself together, and she looked at his sleeping face though he looked blurry as she wiped her eyes.

'Oh James...' She carefully brushed her fingers along the purple bruises on his neck. 'You promised me. You promised me that you wouldn't do this, you said you weren't suicidal anymore. You told me you were happy.'

_Wrong. He'd told you that he was happy._

Jessie was silent for the next couple of minutes. And the time seemed to drag on by, but she wasn't going to be leaving his side until he woke up.

She began talking again, quietly, but still asking him why he would do this.

'What was there to live for?' He asked with a croaky voice.

Jessie's eyes widened and a small gasp escaped her lips as she threw her arms around James.

'What do you mean you fucking idiot?' She said, but smiling slightly nonetheless.

'Jess, I'm married to Jessebelle. There's no reason to be happy. The girl I love will never love me back. You'll never love me like that.' He slapped his hand over his mouth, moaning in pain as he did so.

Jessie blinked, processing what he had just said.

_He said he loves me._

'Me?' Was all she could ask.

James scrunched his eyes closed and nodded.

'James...'

'I don't want to hear it, Jessie.'

'Are you sure?'

'Yeah. Don't tell me. Don't say anything.'

So she didn't, she said nothing, but took his hand in hers and rubbed her thumb in circles over it, soothing James as his eyes fluttered closed.

'Don't go back to sleep, James.'

'Why not?'

'You need to stay awake.'

'I don't want to.'

'You have to. Please? For me?'

James reluctantly opened his eyes again, and looked into Jessie's.

But it wasn't long before his eyes drooped again and closed.

'James.' Never came out of her mouth, as she brushed her lips to his.

That made him open his eyes.

'Jess?' James asked cautiously.

'Mm?'

'What?'

She bit her lip. 'Whoever said I wouldn't love you like _that_?'

'But you... I... You...'

'Shhh...' Jessie placed her finger over James' lips, silencing him.

'You never acted like... Or anything, I just...' He said as soon as she took her finger away.

'I guess I never knew.'

'How did you know?'

'I don't know, just when I saw you there, and I thought you'd gone, I just realised how much you mean to me... And I wouldn't know what I'd do if we were ever apart... And it just sort of came naturally to kiss you, I didn't really think about it.' If they had have been in any other situation, Jessie would have been disgusted with herself for opening up like this. Even to James.

'Jess...' James smiled, and sat up. He took Jessie's hand and pulled her so she was sitting on the side of the bed, and he ran his fingers through her hair. They tangled, as her hair had become knotty, but he didn't mind, that was exactly where he needed them to be. He gently pulled her head closer to his and closed the gap between them.

* * *

'Thank you for everything Nurse Joy, you saved James' life.'

'Yeah, thank you so much.' James gave a half smile, he still didn't have much energy.

'It's no problem! I'm happy to help!' She seemed to be in a lot better mood now she had slept.

Jessie and James left the building and began to walk back to their campsite, their hands intertwined with each others.

The sun had fully risen and was high in the sky when they got back to camp, but Meowth was still sleeping.

They pulled their sleeping bags close together, slightly afraid to let go of each other for fear of losing the other again.

They drifted off to sleep, in each others arms.

'Alright, what did I miss?' Meowth asked, waking both James and Jessie with a start. He gestured to their cuddling and holding hands and asked again what had happened.

'A lot.' Was all that Jessie said, and she drifted back off to sleep, as did James.

Meowth rolled his eyes, and there was James going on about how Jessie would never love him!

'Humans...' He said exasperatedly and settled back down in his sleeping bag too.

* * *

**A/N: Yesss first Rocketshippy fic 3 so anyway i kinda liked the idea of cutting/suicidal James, and i just had certain little ideas and a few more throughout the day today and then this happened! So yeah... I hope Jessie wasn't too occ but if you think about it, she almost lost her best friend in the whole world, and she loved him even though she didn't realise it so she had let her guard down. and in the beginning she found out that most (all) of James' cutting was because of her so obviously she was trying to be a bit more sensetive**

**Please review :3**

_This was a 3 chapter thing, but i decided to make it a one-shot. Now we have to think about the fact that James is married to Jessebelle, and what about the inheritance? I think that they probably wouldnt get that since James'__parents are alive, but that is another story for another time, so maybe sometime i might make a sequel - James is married, but in love with Jessie, they have to try and find a way to get that inheritance so he can get divorced without much trouble, how will they deal with things? i can see it now! hahaha maybe one day soon :)_

_P.S. I'm so obsessed I've run out of rocketshippy fics to read... If anyone has any good ones they could recommend I'd be greatful! I have some great ones I could recommend to you too that I've read! _


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